Change Storage Save Locations in Windows 10  

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    Change Storage Save Locations in Windows 10

    Change Storage Save Locations in Windows 10

    How to Change Storage Location where New Content is Saved in Windows 10
    Published by Category: Customization
    07 Jan 2020
    Designer Media Ltd

    How to Change Storage Location where New Content is Saved in Windows 10

    In Windows 10, you can change the storage drive location for where your new apps, documents, music, photos and videos, movies and TV shows, and offline maps are saved by default. You can use any internal, external, or removable drives as a storage save location. These locations will be reflected in the folders in Quick access

    The new storage location you select will automatically be included to the same documents, music, pictures, or videos library as your default save location. This way, when you save items in the library, it will actually be saved to the selected storage location.

    This tutorial will show you how to change the storage location of where new content like apps, documents, music, photos and videos, movies and TV shows, and offline maps are saved by default for your account in Windows 10.

    If you disconnect a drive that you set as the storage save location, then the storage save location will automatically revert to the default This PC until you reconnect the drive.

    Items saved at one storage location do not automatically get moved to a new storage location when selected.

    You will not be able to use a ReFS formatted drive as a storage location.



    EXAMPLE: Quick access
    Change Storage Save Locations in Windows 10-quick_access.png



    Here's How:

    1 Open Settings, and click/tap on the System icon.

    2 Click/tap on Storage on the left side, and click/tap on the Change where new content is saved link under More storage settings on the right side. (see screenshot below)

    Change Storage Save Locations in Windows 10-storage_settings_14997.png

    3 Select the drive to where you want your apps, documents, music, photos and videos, movies and TV shows, and/or offline maps to be saved to by default, and click/tap on Apply. (see screenshot below)

    If the storage locations are empty, then check to make sure that the Storage Service service is enabled and set to Start (running) and manual.

    How to Start, Stop, Restart, and Disable Services in Windows 10

    Change Storage Save Locations in Windows 10-save_locations-2.png

    4 A folder (ex: Brink) with the same name as your C:\Users\(user-name) user profile folder will now automatically be created on the selected save location (ex: Backup (G) ) if it doesn't already exist, then a subfolder (ex: Music) for your documents, music, pictures, or videos will be created inside the main folder (ex: Brink) if it doesn't already exist. This path (ex: "G:\Brink\Music") will be used as the new storage save location. (see screenshots below)

    Change Storage Save Locations in Windows 10-location.png

    5 The folder (ex: "G:\Brink\Music") from step 4 will now automatically be included in the appropriate Documents, Music, Pictures, or Videos library (ex: Music library), and set as your default save location for the library. (see screenshots below)

    Change Storage Save Locations in Windows 10-save_location_library.png

    6 When finished, you can close Settings if you like.


    That's it,
    Shawn






  1. Posts : 3
    Windows 10 x64
       #1

    I find this setting very confusing. It does add a new folder to the library locations, but it doesn't seem to change the library root location (if you inspect the library in Windows Explorer it'll still show it, for instance, in C:\Users\<name>\<library>).

    That way, under "This PC" you don't actually see the new location you've specified. You just see wherever the library folder is physically located on the device (probably on C drive). You have to specifically look in the "Libraries" category.

    This requires way too much manual cleanup and setup to really be useful. What's the point if I have to just manually move all my files around and change my default library location after anyway? And why doesn't the default library path get updated to point to the new drive?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #2

    Hello Sear, and welcome to Ten Forums. :)

    It's not suppose to change the location of the library.

    Instead, it only creates a folder in the save location you selected, includes that folder in the library, and sets that folder as the default save location for the library.
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 3
    Windows 10 x64
       #3

    Brink said:
    Hello Sear, and welcome to Ten Forums. :)

    It's not suppose to change the location of the library.

    Instead, it only creates a folder in the save location you selected, includes that folder in the library, and sets that folder as the default save location for the library.
    ... which I could already do via a completely different UI. So instead of updating the old one or surfacing it better, Microsoft created a different UI which does a subset of the actions a user might want to do elsewhere, in a manner that is confusing, unintuitive and not well explained in the OS itself.

    Great!

    Nice tutorial though. :)
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Yeah, it's pretty much the same as manually doing it in the library's properties.

    Hopefully, this will have more added to it later.
      My Computers


  5. Posts : 172
    Windows 10
       #5

    What would make this immensely more useful is to allow the users to specify exactly which directory as the default storage location.

    I use Google Drive, and it would be great if I could re-direct Windows 10 to store my files there. Of course, Google Drive is a direct competition to the Microsoft OneDrive.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 4
    WinXP/Win7/Win10
       #6

    On a brand new computer, by default Windows 10 seems to use c:\users\username\onedrive\documents and c:\users\username\onedrive\pictures as the storage location for documents and pictures (Music and Videos are already set to This PC). I am trying to change those locations back to what I am used to which is c:\users\username\documents and c:\users\username\pictures following these instructions. I followed these instructions and change the location for documents and pictures from OneDrive to This PC and click Apply but it does not take. Windows does not save my changes and when I come back to this screen it is back to OneDrive. I am using an Administrator account (setup as local account) in case you are wondering. Any idea why my changes are not sticking?
    Change Storage Save Locations in Windows 10-2016_05_05_21_50_411.png
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #7

    Hello ckerno, :)

    The method in the tutorial below may be able to help with setting the location back to "This PC".

    https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3...dows-10-a.html
      My Computers


  8. Posts : 4
    WinXP/Win7/Win10
       #8

    Thanks Brink. Sorry, I forgot to mention that I have changed those settings from OneDrive to This PC and they stay set OK. But System/Storage/Save Locations will not stay set to This PC and it is a problem because when I open Windows Explorer and expand This PC and click on Documents or Pictures those folders are still pointing to OneDrive (I know it is strange, the Documents and Pictures listed under This PC are pointing to OneDrive even though there is a separate listing for OneDrive just above This PC). I have to manually go to c:\users\username\documents and c:\users\username\pictures in Windows Explorer (and have added them to Quick Access) but when I install apps, like an old copy of Canon Zoom Browser, and open it the program is looking to OneDrive\Pictures by default. Any other idea why System/Storage/Save Locations will not save when I click Apply?

      My Computer


  9. Posts : 4
    WinXP/Win7/Win10
       #9

    Brink, I just read more and found this page so I will give this info a shot. Thanks.

    https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...dows-10-a.html
      My Computer


 

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